Hi binatone watch those s/westerlys gusting over 50 down here looking forward to your input on this thread.

hi sam, sea anglers selling their catch with out a license is illegal as you know, this can be stopped with the correct policing and with a little co-operation from us and commercials.
only this week here we had a gill net removed from one of my best mullet marks bit of a result to caught the chap redhanded turns out he has been doing it on and off all year, dont think he will do it again, and this was down to a bit of co-operation other wise it would still be there.

Interests:fishing,diving,running,beer, and girls, notable pbs, 27lb unknown common carp, 87lb mekong catfish (thailand) 30lb king mack , and black tip of unknown weight! loads of bits and bobs both heer and abroad!<br />luv it all from fluff chucking , wrecking and session carping! u name it ! ill have a go at it!<br />ambitions of the moment!! decent shore cought bass, get into kayaks next spring and give the smooth hound a bashing! maybe a big tope (somthing that still eludes me)

Posted 29 September 2005 - 04:05 AM

cant realy comment in anywre near as much depth as other but some talking between the commercial boys and the anglers can only be a good thing!
perhaps a little bit of respect and an open ear on both sides is needed, as it seems for the most part the consensus is your the enemy and from your point of view we ar just cowboys that do it for fun!
we both have a common goal as far as fish stocks go so it could only be a good thing to get together in some sort of free discusion body!
the goverment make a stak out of commercial fishing and quit alot out of the angling industry
so they would have to listen? WELL WE CAN ALL DREAM CANT WE!

Unfortunaly a lot of people who visit this forum dont really knows what has gone on over the years, there has been mass slaughter at sea with discards and when you here the old story anglers taking fish of wrecks destroying the breeding stock who says this you guest it commercial fishermen,what they dont tell you is all big cod they caught scene netting and pair trawling of the ground a man with a rod and line wont even scratch the surface when it comes to fish stocks its a joke even bringing anglers into the equasion.

Interests:fishing,diving,running,beer, and girls, notable pbs, 27lb unknown common carp, 87lb mekong catfish (thailand) 30lb king mack , and black tip of unknown weight! loads of bits and bobs both heer and abroad!<br />luv it all from fluff chucking , wrecking and session carping! u name it ! ill have a go at it!<br />ambitions of the moment!! decent shore cought bass, get into kayaks next spring and give the smooth hound a bashing! maybe a big tope (somthing that still eludes me)

Posted 29 September 2005 - 06:04 AM

yup your right ther mate im just trying to offer the olive branch or the idea of it anyway!
i do think its strange that the north atlantic cod is on the endangered list and is still being sloughtered! were the panda that cant be through massive sperm and ovary banks cant! probly due to the panda being cute and cuddly and the cod being ugly and more to the point tasty!
i can see why countrys like iceland and japan get the hump when we preach no whaling!
i my self have been well and truly anti commercials but that is big money and like ive said before we as anglers do it for fun!
as usual it seems money makes the world go round even if we destroy ar eco system in the proces!
best probly not to think about it!
its not as tho we can do anything about it!

Big Cod, I respect a lot of what you say; inshore rockhoppers and pair trawl caused tremendous destruction in my area too and i can understand why you take that attitude.

Its 2005 now though; the fishing fleet is a shadow of what it used to be, the government agencies at last seem to have developed teeth ( i suspect that's temporary but never mind, that's just me), we have internet forums like this, a different understanding of conservation.

Maybe time to consider that your world-view is not the whole picture? Got to admit Leon got me me with the implications of research with genetics

Jaffa i know that lads who fish commercially have to make a living i would never dispute that,they earn every penny for going to sea but the practices like what has been going on down here over the last 3weeks is madness ,every codling landed 2 going back over the side this practice has gone on for years and that is why we are where we are now, if you had a camera crew on one of vessels and put it on prime tv you tell me what the outcome would be regarding the state of the cod stocks would be the finger would point one way its tottal madness this still goes on in 2005, defra are clueless as far conservation goes as a closure at the time of the herring spawning would help everybody in the long run.

Just don't say anything that might upset the netters! Wouldn't want them feeling bad as they scrape my local estuary for flounders to sell as pot bait, would we? A club could fish matches every week of the year, catching and releasing those almost worthless fish. But no, it'll buy a couple of pints, so out they must come.I'm sorry if this seems a negative attitude but I am old enough to remember when I COULD catch proper sized cod off the shore and, whatever the apologists and excuse makers on here might say, the reason I can't catch them any more is ENTIRELY down to the trawlermen. There may be a raft of stupid rules for them to follow but at the end of the day it is them who shovel a pile of dead codling overboard and then shoot the net back in the same place knowing they'll catch a load more, as long as they get a few boxes of something they can sell.

Forming an alliance does not mean that the parties involved will agree 100% but it forms a playing field where differences of opinion can be aired and a joint action can be formed.

I do not see any reason why an alliance should not work, as there are important areas, which both sides agree on.

Everybody agrees that quotas do not work.

Everybody agrees that unlicensed black fishing must be stopped.

Everybody agrees by-catch is a waste of resources.

Everybody would like to see our fishing controlled 100% out to the twelve mile line by British interest.

Everybody agrees that without some form of conservation no one will have anything to fish for.

Here are five very good points, which could form discussion platforms to gain a better understanding of views and ways to put extra pressure jointly on the powers that be.

It will never be a marriage made in heaven, but letsí be honest they seldom are.

I read a lot of post made by commercial fishermen on here and a lot of what they say is not so far adrift from ours. In general I think they should put their hands up a bit more for their actions and the repercussions, this is as much for their own future as well as everybody elseís.

Big cod why do you not(or anybody for that matter) accept like me who as taken fish out of the sea and killed, to eat, sell, or for what ever reason are blameless totaly for are shrinking fish stocks.

Ok i accept your arguement and agree yes we as anglers have taken a lot less fish of course then the commercials but then we dont have to pay our bills out of our catch, (or we should'nt with out a license) but the fact is we did" both of us still" are taking fish from an ever decreasing stock, the answer to the problem now" does not lie with who's fault it was or still is, if we carry on down that road going around in circles its gonna be to late.

Most government departments/committees etc are full of people that dont have a clue how to solve problems not in the real world defra are no different, but they are clever in other ways, negotiating deals with other departments here and abroad through the front door back door or any other type of door they can use and i think it is justifiable to say the commercial fishermen of this country have be used as a political pawn in this process, now rsa's have got to be careful not to be used in the same way.

My understanding of politics is very limited compared to these profesionaly employed people but i know there are plenty of people that are even much more clever, at a price of course.

The nfsa/sacn/bass/leon and the guys have done and are doing a fantastic job under the circumstances with little or no funding what so ever they need help" big time to carry on the good work, but i am sure they will agree to being to thin on the ground, they cant all be at 100 meetings at once.

With an alliance comes twice the resources funding/man power/more public opinion/more lobbying with employed profesionals etc,etc,etc.
At the moment we are both being stuffed and will continue being so, if we work together we might have a better chance, at the moment defra have us both by the b*lls............

Why not try and start such an organisation. The SOS was born out of similar threads.

Ken has pointed out the similarities, Here in my opinion are the differences.

A recreational sea angler wants to catch as many big fish as he can, and watch them swim away unharmed, so they can breed and produce more big fish.

The commercial fisherman wants to catch as many fish as he can, of any size (because he can throw back the little ones - discards) and doesn't care about sustainability or what the environmental impact is, and then blame everybody but himself.